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Rail operator Deutsche Bahn said on Monday that it would resume talks with the German Train Drivers' Union (GDL), pushing back the possibility of further crippling strikes.

In a statement, the rail company said that there had been “intensive talks” since the GDL board voted in favour of strikes last Wednesday.

Now the two sides have agreed a structure for the negotiations over wages and union representation to continue.

“Yes, we have an agreement,” a GDL spokesman confirmed to reporters in Frankfurt.

DB said that the negotiations were extremely difficult due to the demands of GDL and its much larger competitor union among DB employees, the Rail and Transport Union (EVG).

With both unions fighting to represent some of the same groups of employees, the parallel talks have often become bogged down.

“We're grateful to both parties to the negotiations that they've ended their month-long argument over questions of process,” Klaus Dauderstädt, head of the German Civil Service Union (DBB) – of which GDL is a member – said in a statement on Monday.